Thermal processes of reducing foodborne pathogens in bagged food products

Abstract

A heating assembly designed for reducing foodborne pathogens in bagged food products comprises a heat insulated treatment chamber, multiple high temperature natural gas fired furnaces, multiple insulated ductworks further comprising multiple sets of intake ducts and multiple sets of exhaust ducts, a cooling system that allows air to be controlled and supplied into the treatment chamber, multiple temperature sensor probes placed in the treatment chamber, the natural gas fired furnaces, and the bagged food products, a digital control system, and a computer program that monitors the temperature of each probe. A specially designed racking system with multiple levels allows multiple dry bags containing the food products to be stacked in a manner that rapidly and uniformly heat the food products.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A heating assembly for reducing foodborne pathogens in bagged food products comprising:
 a treatment chamber;   multiple high temperature natural gas fired furnaces;   multiple insulated ductworks;   multiple temperature sensor probes placed in the treatment chamber, the high temperature natural gas fired furnaces and the bagged food products; and   a computer program that simultaneously monitors temperatures of the multiple temperature sensor probes.   
     
     
         2 . The heating assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising an automatic cooling system. 
     
     
         3 . The heating assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the multiple natural gas fired furnaces further comprise identical furnaces wired in series. 
     
     
         4 . The heating assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the multiple insulated ductworks further comprise multiple intake ducts and multiple exhaust ducts installed on opposite walls of the treatment chamber. 
     
     
         5 . The heating assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a racking system with multiple levels that suspend the bags such that air circulates on top, bottom, and sides of each bag. 
     
     
         6 . The heating assembly of  claim 1 , wherein each of the gas fired furnace further comprises an immersion tube burner, a fire box, a digital tube burner monitoring system, an air collector box, and a furnace blower fan. 
     
     
         7 . A thermal treatment chamber for reducing foodborne pathogens in bagged food products comprising:
 multiple heating zones;   multiple high temperature natural gas fired furnaces;   multiple insulated ductworks;   multiple temperature sensor probes placed in the treatment chamber, the high temperature natural gas fired furnaces and the bagged food products; and   a computer program that simultaneously monitors temperatures of the multiple temperature sensor probes.   
     
     
         8 . The heating assembly of  claim 7 , further comprising an automatic cooling system. 
     
     
         9 . The heating assembly of  claim 7 , wherein the multiple natural gas fired furnaces further comprise identical furnaces wired in series. 
     
     
         10 . The heating assembly of  claim 7 , wherein the multiple insulated ductworks further comprise multiple intake ducts and multiple exhaust ducts installed on opposite walls of the treatment chamber. 
     
     
         11 . The heating assembly of  claim 7 , further comprising a racking system with multiple levels that suspend the bags such that air circulates on top, bottom, and sides of each bag. 
     
     
         12 . The heating assembly of  claim 7 , wherein each of the gas fired furnace further comprises an immersion tube burner, a fire box, a digital tube burner monitoring system, an air collector box, and a furnace blower fan. 
     
     
         13 . A heating assembly for reducing foodborne pathogens in bagged food products comprising:
 a treatment chamber;   multiple high temperature natural gas fired furnaces;   multiple sets of insulated intake ducts installed on one side of the treatment chamber;   multiple sets of insulated exhaust ducts installed on another side of the treatment chamber;   multiple temperature sensor probes placed in the treatment chamber, the high temperature natural gas fired furnaces and the bagged food products; and   a computer program that simultaneously monitors temperatures of the multiple temperature sensor probes,   wherein the multiple sets of insulated intake ducts and the multiple sets of insulated exhaust ducts are connected to the multiple high temperature natural gas fired furnaces.   
     
     
         14 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , further comprising a racking system with multiple levels that suspend the bags such that air circulates on top, bottom, and sides of each bag. 
     
     
         15 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , further comprising an automatic cooling system. 
     
     
         16 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the multiple natural gas fired furnaces further comprise identical furnaces wired in series. 
     
     
         17 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , wherein each of the gas fired furnace further comprises an immersion tube burner, a fire box, a digital tube burner monitoring system, an air collector box, and a furnace blower fan. 
     
     
         18 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the treatment chamber is further divided into multiple zones. 
     
     
         19 . The heating assembly of  claim 15 , wherein the automatic cooling system comprises a damper fan assembly. 
     
     
         20 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the computer program is further interfaced with a main electrical control panel and a thermocouple control panel that control the operation of the multiple furnaces and temperature monitoring.